Alien3

What’s the Story?

In this third installment of the series, alien-fighter Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) finds herself all alone on a dangerous planet after her escape pod crash lands. The only one to survive the crash, Ripley discovers an all-male prison/factory, staffed by murderers, rapists, and child-molesters. The men live without weapons; they control their psychotic impulses through work and prayer, living much like monks. Ripley's feminine presence alone is disruptive, but not as much as the larval alien that stowed away on board the escape pod. It infects a prisoner's pet dog and emerges a full-scale monster, on the chase for fresh human victims. Prisoners begin to turn up hideously killed, and Ripley suspects alien invasion but the few men who can tolerate her are disbelieving. Worse is to come; there's no way off the planet except by in the treacherous organization called "The Company." And worse is to come, worse even than that.

Is It Any Good?

Grim and uncompromising, ALIEN3 was a troubled, expensive production that burned through an assortment of directors before it finally landed on the screen courtesy of David Fincher, a filmmaker whose work dwells on serial killers, crime, and the darkest sides of human nature. If cheering sci-fi fans thought that Fincher would continue the militaristic heroics of the previousAliens they were badly mistaken.

The original Alien seemed gloomy and gothic, more of a haunted-house chiller than the cosmic fairy tales popular at the time and this one goes even further to convey a sense of desolation and hopelessness. There's not an ounce of humor here, but if there were, it would have to be someone saying to Ripley at some point, "It sure sucks to be you!" Weaver does a commendable job, in a very grueling physical performance that takes the beleaguered heroine to the outer limits of despair and ultimate sacrifice. But if science-fiction is meant to convey a "sense of wonder," the question here is "wonder who would find this entertaining?"